Teenage Finbar Frame, who suffers from the likes of bullies because of his geeky stature, soon becomes influenced by vampire romance novels.  He becomes a “vampire” himself to attract young gals — his one-way ticket to popularity.  Finbar’s journey as a “vampire” helps him to discover that he must be true to himself.

This novel is full of humor and charm.  The author depicts the characters as believable teens that want to fit in.  The message in this story is clear:  Sometimes one must go through difficult situations to realize what one has all along.  The novel motivates readers to be true to themselves and be truthful to others.  This story definitely leaves the reader satisfied.

— Maggie C.

This non-fiction graphic novel presents the topic of renewable energy in an easy to read and understand format.  The Table of Contents includes:  Where does energy come from?; What makes energy renewable?; Large-scale renewable energy; and New Roads in renewable energy.  Renewable energy source topics included are solar, wind, water, geothermal and biomass.  The mix of illustrations and pictures enhance and explain the text well.  There is an AR test (level 5.3, points .5).  The index and glossary are helpful features.

Frantastic Voyage is volume 5 of the Franny K. Stein series, an easy chapter book filled with just about as many illustrations as text space.  This book will be popular with reluctant readers and is geared more towards girls.  Franny is definitely not your typical girl, but considers herself right up there with her namesake.  Igor, her trusty lab assistant, plays a huge role in her mad science experiments.  Actually, kids who are science-oriented would probably be inspired by her thoughts of making her doomsday device and any of her other ideas, but the pun-ny humor and maniacal looks on Franny’s face are huge distractions.  I need to reserve judgment until I see how popular the book is, but for now, it looks like a book that is one that may be a hard sell.

This book may be little, but it’s very powerful.  Forty-seven fables from Aesop are featured, many with an accompanying black and white illustration.  The fables are short, but to the point, at the end of each is the lesson to be learned in bold-faced type.  Although short, each fable still gives the flavor of the characters and plot.  I like the fact that there are so many fables in just one book.  This is an excellent book for every school library but also as a resource for teachers.

The Mice of Nibbling Village is a compilation of verses and accompanying illustration.  Each page features a different ‘citizen’ of Nibbling Village whose description is told in lovely, old-fashioned verse.  Children will love the quality of the words and the soothing tone as they view the lavishly detailed illustrations of each mouse in his/her abode.  The illustrations exactly match the verses and each mouse is seen as a person with similar qualities.  Very reminiscent of old English books for the primary-age child.

This series, The Joy of Spooking, sound like The Joy of Cooking, but actually it is very misleading, for a reason.  Joy is the name of the main character, and she together with her younger brother and mother and father, live in the town of Spooking, which lives up to it’s name.  Spooking used to be a vibrant little town but people had moved away and buildings fell into disrepair.  Strange stories began to circulate, people began avoiding even going to Spooking, and people began to be frightened.  This fright was brought on by loud booms heard in the dead of night, that people began to call ‘ghost cannons’ because they could never find the source of the disturbance.  This ‘ghost cannon’ was actually a rundown delivery truck making it’s routine stop at the local insane asylum.  The asylum was well cared for but the public was never allowed to see patients or the grounds, and for good reason.  The so-called doctor running the place had made a ‘deal’ for eternal life; he had discovered a mineral-laden water which extended youth for a very long time.  Along comes Octavio Phipps, a resident of Spooking who has a long history of family curses, who is trying to arrange for an investor to buy the asylum and make it into a luxury spa and resort.  Little does he know what is in store for him as he plants a former friend in the asylum to spy for him.  The whole book is action-packed, hilarious, and jaw-dropping.  Kids who love Lemony Snicket will love this series.  The humor is very subtle and the reader will have to slow down to actually hear how funny it is.  I loved it and will heartily recommend the series to other librarians.

Tortoise was so worried about his first day of school. What if he falls down? What if he doesn’t like lunch? What if he doesn’t make any friends? But he gets up the courage to go inside the building to announce, “Good Morning,” to everyone. They all respond back, “Good Morning Mr. Tortoise!” to their teacher.  Readers will love the twist at the end! The illustrations are full page, soft and cute.

This book covers very general information about St. Patrick’s Day, such as: Saint Patrick’s Life, celebration activities, and symbols that represent the day. It has a table of contents, glossary, reference books, web sites and an index.

This cute story discusses the ways to hug many different animals, but repeatedly questions, “How do you hug a porcupine?” Finally, in the end, the answer is given, “Carefully!”

Soon after 3 puppies were left on the side of the road in a cardboard box, they were picked up and dropped off at a shelter. An older dog has told them it is Christmas Eve and people will want to adopt puppies this time of year. Ruff and Tuff decide to misbehave so their sister, Penny, will be picked to go to a good home. However, they are surprised when they all go to a home together. This story has a great “Disney” style ending! Illustrations are bright and sweet.